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Idyls of Freedom 



AELLA GREENE 



author of 
John Peters," " Gaihered from Life," Etc. 




PUBLISHED IN 1893. IJT X IJ S^7 



T4 V 



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U5^1 .f«|3 



Copyright, 1893, 

BY 

AELLA GREENE. 



THE BRYANT PRINTING COMPANY, 
FLORENCE, MASS. 



CONTENTS 



IDYLS OF FREEDOM 

AMERICA 

IN OTHER LANDS 

TRUTH MAKES FREE 

II. 
ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA 
VISION AND PROPHECY 
A WARNING TO COLUMBIA 
'O PATRIOTS PURE AND STRONG 
A PILGRIMAGE OF CZARS 
BY KOSCIUSKO'S DUST 
WARNINGS FROM ELDER DAYS 



DYLS OF FREEDOM 



IDYLS OF FREEDOM. 

r^ STARS, what history 

It has been yours to see 
Enacted here since man, 
Crown of creation's plan, 
His wanderings began — 
Since to his pristine joy 
He added an alloy 
That forth a rover sent 
Him, fired with discontent. 
Say since, with Eden lost. 
The fateful bounds he crossed, 
How dear his straying cost ! 
Still, while in wretched plight. 
He was not hopeless quite, 
Nor rayless was his night. 

Stars that have kindly shone 
On paths his feet have gone — 
Than downward, let us hope, 
Onward more, and up — 



IDYLS OF FREEDOM. 

Aid Still his wish and quest 

For truth, and peace and rest. 

Still from the blue above 

Shine where he wars to prove 

His patriotic love, 

And, dying, asks you tell 

The ages that he fell 

To foil the tyrant's hand 

And bless his native land. 

And tell, as tell ye must, 

O stars, for stars are just, 

From what great sacrifice 

All others do arise. 

Tell what, foreseen, inspired. 

And what accomplished, fired, 

The patriot heart to live 

For liberty and give 

His life to make men free. 

And aid them that they see 

That highest liberty 

Gives equal weight of care. 

Gives unto each his share 

Of burdens all must bear — 



IDYLS OF FREEDOM. 

That liberty, if boon, 
Used wrongly, cometh soon 
To license, that is not 
True liberty, but blot 
On the historic page, 
A hindrance to the age. 



This life, this sacrifice, 
O stars, from which arise 
The heavenly blessings given 
And hope of more in heaven — 
This life of hope for man, 
Ye saw as it began. 
Ye saw its teeming day, 
O stars, and sunset ray. 
And deathly chill of night. 
And hint at last of light. 
Ye saw the glorious morn 
Of grace and peace adorn 
The mountain heights of time 
And shine to every clime. 
To make all life sublime ! 



lO IDYLS OF FREEDOM. 

A Star 'twas guided them 
Who fared to Bethlehem ; 
And at cerulean poise 
It sentineled their joys, 
As o'er the Saviour born, 
Rejoicing till the morn, 
They mused on what should be 
His wondrous history. 
Stars gave the warning dream 
Of Herod's hellish scheme 
And guided, then, the flight 
To Egypt through the night. 
And o'er the child returned 
The stars in gladness burned. 

The stars rejoiced the boy 
And study gave and joy. 
As through the years he grew 
To all the ages knew — 
Till wondering sages gazed 
Adoring and amazed. 



IDYLS OF FREEDOM. I I 

Stars cheered the Christ who prayed 

In lonely mountain glade 

And sang their joy to see 

The helpful ministry 

Of Him of Galilee. 

And when His followers slept 

Ye stars in pity wept, 

And, weeping, wondered ye 

At the sublimity 

Of sad Gethsemane. 

And when at Calvary 

The sun refused to shine 

Your stellar beams were sign 

That Christ the slain should rise, 

Completed sacrifice. 

Triumphant to the skies ! 



Ye stars that wondering saw 
His answer to the law 
Who for the sinful died 
And poured the precious tide 
Of His great life, to give 



12 IDYLS OF FREEDOM. 

The sinful chance to live,^ 
Ye stars who heard the word 
Sublimest ever heard 
That Jesus at His death 
Spoke with His dying breath, 
To say the work was done, 
The victory was won — 
From that sublimity. 
That matchless agony, 
All greatness doth proceed. 
Thence every noble deed, 
Thence all unselfishness. 
Thence every pulse to bless 
That helps the patriot die. 
Without the question why, 
For home and libertv. 



AMERICA. 

/^~^N days and deeds sublime 

That gem this western clime, 
O stars of Freedom, shine, 
And shed your beams benign 
Where Concord bridge was won, 
And rustic Lexington — 
And Bunker Hill declared. 
And Bennington, how fared 
The foes of liberty 
Who warred agairst the free. 



Shine where the great and good 
With high solicitude, 
In meekness knelt to pray 
To Heaven to drive away 
The foreign foes and give 
The country chance to live. 
How humble and how great, 
How fit to found a state. 



14 AMERICA. 

Was he who knelt that day, 
At Valley Forge, to pray. 
And may his land remain 
The place of all good gain 
And Freedom's own domain, 
The home and resting place 
Of bravery and of grace. 
Of greatness and all worth — 
The paradise of earth ! 



Though truth the charm will break, 

Still best the truth to speak. 

Here, where 'twas general boast 

That this was Freedom's coast. 

Were human beings chained. 

While selfishness explained 

That slavery was right. 

And those who saw the plight 

That Liberty was in 

By league with such a sin 

And dared rebuke the wrong. 

That still was growing strong 



AMERICA. 15 

While grew the nation weak 
To danger that 'twould break, 
Were stigmatized as fools 
Beyond discretion's rules. 
But in these later days 
The scoffers dare the praise 
That radicals were wise 
And fit to canonize 
For the sublimest skies ! 



How cursed this sin the land 
We came to understand 
When Donelson was need 
And Fredericksburg, and greed 
Of rough-hewn havoc made 
On Sherman's master raid 
Of horse and infantry 
From inland to the sea ! 
And need to prove our liege 
To liberty was siege 
Of Vicksburg and the shock 
Of ''Chickamauga's Rock," 



l6 AMERICA. 

Grim Thomas of the build 
To name for Caesar's guild. 
So Grierson's reckless dash, 
Discreet in that 'twas rash ; 
And Farragut in the shrouds 
And Hooker in the clouds, 
And Ellsworth first to die, 
And gallant Lyon — why 
S* early sent to heaven ! 
And why McPherson given 
And thousands, thousands more ! 
How runneth up the score. 
Through scenes of din and gore. 
To Gettysburg, sublime 
Through all the years of time ! 



What tongue can tell, what pen, 

The fate of prisoned men 

Who, doomed to the mill 

Of Andersonville, 

Learned the tortures that spell 

A new name for hell ! 



AMERICA. 

And who can count their tears 

And warring hopes and fears, 

Who mourned their loved ones there, 

Or slain in conflict, where, 

Though glorious thus to fall 

For country and for all 

That's dear, and true, and high, 

'Tis fearful, still to die ! 

And hard was it to know 

That, with the slaughter, slow 

Moved the cause of right 

And darkened down the night 

Of doubt, with scarce a ray 

To hint of coming day. 

But rose a lustrous star 

When he led on the war 

Whose calm, courageous way 

Of hero in affray. 

Assured, at once, a morn 

And was the sign to warn 

The foemen of defeat 

Their cause was sure to meet. 



17 



AMERICA, 

Now once and three times three, 
At Appomattox tree, 
Give everyone to all 
Who heeded Freedom's call 
And marched with Grant, to hew 
The hard-fought journey through 
The Wilderness, to see 
The dawn of victory. 

But who shall sing to tell 
Their deeds who fought and fell 
In all the hard campaigns, 
Who equal epic strains 
For those whose crimson stains 
Full thrice a hundred plains 
And reddens bloody years, 
Which make them high compeers 
Of all the brave that time 
Hath given to wreath and rhyme ! 

Let gratitude be given 
In joyful song to Heaven ; 



AMERICA 

Aye, shout and sing again, 
Good citizens, that when 
The nation was in dole 
A man of prophet soul 
Was sent to meet our need. 
A man inspired to read 
The meaning of the times 
The country for its crimes 
Was going through, — a man 
With genius fit to plan 
And brave enough to act, 
He made his vision fact. 
Wielding the nation's might 
For mercy and the right, 
And breaking, at a stroke, 
The bondman's galling yoke. 



Good stars, your radiance shed 
On paths where Lincoln led 
Through all those years of strife 
Up to the higher life 
Of Freedom and of peace 



IN OTHER LANDS. 



And all the good increase 

That makes these states combined 

The envy of mankind ! 



IN OTHER LANDS. 

^ OOD stars, what prophet ken 

Had Aztec Juarez when, 
For liberty he fought 
Against the foe who sought 
To bind with Spanish chain 
The Mexican in train 
Of papal Rome, to slave 
Subservient where the brave 
Descendants of the sun 
Their long career had run, 
Free as the airs that fanned 
Their lovely native land. 
Well ye rejoiced to see, 
Where foreign tyranny 
Had reigned, superior rise, 



IN OTHER LANDS. 

To crown the high emprise 
Of Juarez with success 
And so mankind to bless, 
The fair republic bright 
With promise for the right 
Of patriots everywhere. 
For each hath right to share 
Each country of the free, 
Wherever dwelleth he. 



Still Juarez only did 
As high examples bid — 
Through thirty years of blood, 
When that brave Swede withstood 
The papal powers combined, 
Who sought on all mankind 
To place the Latin yoke — 
Gustavus brave, who broke 
The bondage long and sore 
For northmen evermore. 
He drove the power of Rome 
From church, and court, and home. 



IN OTHER LANDS. 

Wherein the people sing, 
To crown Gustavus king ! 
And cadence of the song 
The southland doth prolong. 
Where well Emanuel strove 
And Garibaldi's love 
Was given for Italy, 
Mankind and liberty. 

And Magyars, whose Kossuth 
For country and for truth 
Was sacrifice, may raise 
To favoring Heaven their praise 
For his grand life, and twine 
The wreath and pray the Nine 
To sing to full import 
That high in Austrian court 
The Magyars reign, whom erst 
The tyrant Austrians cursed ! 

How bright the stars that look 
On Scotland's famous brook 



IN OTHER LANDS. 23 

And bid the ages learn 
That Bruce of Bannockburn 
Was Caledonia's pride I 
Shine where her sons defied, 
At Flodden field, the foe 
That laid her banner low. 
Yet in defeat were strong 
To height of grandest song. 
Beam kind on every glen 
Known to his foot and ken, 
That kingliest of men, 
The Wallace of the Eld, 
Whom, then, ye stars beheld 
And sang him worthy praise 
Of all the future days. 



Shine, stars, with beams benign 
On scene of deeds divine. 
Where Winkelried the brave, 
His Switzerland to save. 
Threw on the Austrian steel 
His mighty rage of zeal 



24 IN OTHER LANDS. 

And Struck in death the blow 
To break the serried foe. 
His followers raining blows 
Where grand his courage rose, 
Thus turned the tide and day 
Against the cruel fray 
Of those who sought t' enslave 
The Switzer patriots brave, 
Whom God's own mountains gave 
That love of liberty 
That fits men to be free. 



And evermore shall ye, 
Bright stars of liberty, 
Rejoice to shine upon 
The field where Cromwell won, 
At Marston Moor, the day 
And stemmed the tyrant's sway, 
Till full at Naseby, then, 
Where royal Charles again 
Marshaled his hosts, the band 
Of patriots dared withstand 



TRUTH MAKES FREE. 25 

The legions of the king. 
And all the years shall sing, 
To let the future know 
They routed him to show 
That foreign he and foe, 
Though native born, if he 
Love not true libertv. 



TRUTH MAKES FREE. 

A S truth alone makes free, 

Who country loves must see 
The truth and love the truth 
As ardently as youth 
The maiden from whose heart 
Not even death can part. 
Truth-founded love gives rate, 
The citizen's estate, 
A country and a place. 
Fraternity and race. 
Alien to truth, a man 



26 TRUTH MAKES FREE. 

Nor country hath, nor clan, 
Though castled well and crowned 
With choicest treasures found 
In late or olden times 
Through west or Orient climes. 
Aye, foreign he, and poor, 
And sick, though mount and moor 
Afford their gold for wealth 
And myrrhs to bless his health. 
Not loving truth, then he 
Shall poor and homeless be. 
Though heraldry declare 
That ancient lineage rare 
Makes him the rightful heir 
To every land and throne, 
And though the people own 
The purple of his power. 
Rejoicing in his dower 
And seeking bards to sing 
Him bishop, lord and king. 
But harps must not descend. 
For song hath upward trend ; 
So who but hymns for pay 



TRUTH MAKES FREE. 27 

Sings but a meagre lay. 
And rhyme they e'er so well, 
The bards who seek to tell 
An untruth in a song 
And sing success of wrong, 
Some Croesus toast for wealth 
That came alone by stealth. 
And hymn the tyrant's power 
As given by heavenly dower, 
And cunning as divine 
Whose skill hath ends malign. 
Will find, though flamed to blaze 
That gleams of gala days. 
They fail to reach the lays 
That live in honor's praise. 
Then, faltering down to phrase 
Whose labored lines confess 
They sing from selfishness. 
They'll rave to furious stress 
Of prayer to Power to bless. 
When Truth alone gives theme 
Befitting poet's dream. 



28 TRUTH MAKES FREE. 

This truth, ye stars above, 
That all the ages prove — 
The true alone can love 
Their country or a mate. 
No love, Hymen a fate. 
Fit messenger of hate I 
This truth, bright stars above, 
No truth, there is no love. 
No truth, the gold shall rust, 
To teach the truth it must — 
No truth, then love is lust. 
And love of country, show 
Which all true patriots know 
As subterfuge and sham 
That would to meanness damn 
Be3^ond redeeming grace, 
A countrv and a race. 



Yet strange contrasts arise. 

Some royal mysteries — 

A king to virtue known. 

Yet who could make his throne 



TRUTH MAKES FREE. 29 

By tricks that must belong 

The hellish arts among, 

The anchor of a wrong, 

That should have scourge of song, 

The very rage of rhyme, 

To blast to future time ! 



The Charles whom Cromwell fought, 

True in his home, was naught 

But false to native land. 

Though promising, his hand 

Withheld the needed good 

He pledged to those who stood 

For liberty and right. 

For these did Cromwell fight ; 

For these he overthrew 

The Stuart king and slew 

The false one of the throne. 

And by the act was shown, 

In England evermore — 

A truth the wide world o'er, 

And as the sunlight plain — 



30 TRUTH :\IAKES FREE. 

The right of kings to reign, 

Original in heaven, 

Is to the governed given, 

By them to be transferred 

In their installing word 

To those their love shall say 

The kingly traits display. 

Would Cromwell had remained, 
Preventing crime that stained 
Bright Albion's sovran name, 
By other Charles who came. 
The Charles who ever wrought 
Injustice and who thought 
Of self alone and sought 
Delight in splendid sin 
And seemed possessed to win. 
By elegance of shame, 
An ever fiorid fame 
Unto his royal name ! 



IDYLS OF FREEDOM 



II 



ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 

T F ill the theme befits 

To sing of Austerlitz ; 
If vain to weep awhile 
By lone Helena's isle ; 
If cold, to some, such theme 
For patriotic dream, 
In that the Corsican 
Fought not for fellow man, 
But strove alone for fame 
For his imperial name — 
O would some one as rod 
Of an avenging God 
Arise, who, sent by w^rath 
Of Heaven, should cleave a path 
Through Tyranny's domains 
To far Siberia's plains. 
And break the prison bars 
Of victims of the czars ! 



34 ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 

Sarmatia blotted out 
By Russian robber rout ! 
Her patriots under ban 
At whim of Tartar clan ! 
'Twere just and holy cause 
To give the robbers pause 
And wrest from their hard hand 
That fair despoiled land. 
Though bearing Tartar brand 
Of master on his slave 
Which Russian monster gave, 
She shows distinctly, still, 
Despite his iron will, 
The rare sw^eet quality 
Of fitness to be free. 



The cause demands a man 
Serener, grander than 
The dreaded Corsican ? 
May one with like strong hand 
And genius to command 
Arise, some leader born 



ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 35 

Under the star of morn, 
Some one whose shining worth 
Shall win the best of earth 
To highest hope and prayer 
For Heaven's especial care, 
And win good gallant men 
To join his flag, whose ken 
At once, from far, can see 
The day of victory — 
The men with might to win 
The boon their faith hath seen. 



O chieftain of the skies 
And Freedom's cause, arise ! 
And panoplied for wars, 
Go guided by the stars 
That favoring shone 
Above Napoleon, 
In that sublime advance 
From his admiring France 
That made the Russias quake 
And all the kingdoms shake. 



36 ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 

Stars they to aid to see 
The way to victory, 
Stars that would lustrous burn 
To light the grand return 
Of victors from the fray 
Where justice won the day. 

Not so the march when Ney 
Fared on the frozen w^ay, 
To cheer his leader back 
Along the winter track 
With remnant of his host, 
To mourn the prize they lost, 
A city burned to ban 
The coming Corsican. 
Him Russia dared not fight, 
But put to sorry plight 
By burning roof and bread 
That should have housed and fed 
The host, who froze or starved 
By thousands ere they carved. 
With Bonaparte and Ney, 
To France their pilgrim way. 



ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 37 

But those of right engaged 
In righteous warring, waged 
To break the dungeon bars 
Of prisoned worth, ye stars 
Would good birds send to feed 
Unto their fullest need 
With manna of the heaven 
That bread hath ever given 
To those who well have striven 
Through hard or favored fight 
In furtherance of right. 



If Moscow burned again 

'Twould light the prisoned men 

From durance hard to flee 

To hope and liberty, 

The men whose dungeon bars 

Are legacy of czars, 

Kings whose oppression is 

Acme of tyrannies ! 

Sending those away 

In bondage sore to stay 



^S ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 

Whose glances have told, 

Or a breath over bold, 

That the fancies they hold 

Slight hindrances are 

To the wish of a czar ! 

Dooming to banishment 

For the mildest intent 

Of the patriot heart ! 

O tyrant, what art 

Of the demons is thine ! 

What spirit malign 

That breathes from the hell 

Where the worst furies dwell ! 

Strange that the czar should ban 

Those whom but easy plan 

Of right would lead to own 

Allegiance to his throne 

And give their life to prove 

Their loyalty of love 

And interest in the fame 

Of Alexander's name. 



ARRAIGN-MEXT OF RUSSIA. 39 

Instead, while nations weep, 
These Tartar tyrants keep 
The victims of their hate 
In worse than hellish fate, 
Chained down in prison long, 
Guarded by legions strong, 
While lordly laugh at cries 
That move the pitying skies 
Rings through the palaces 
Rank with festivities. 
Where hireling wit doth sneer 
And trembling peasants fear. 

Read not the story through, 
Read not of Finn and Jew. 
Read but the lines that tell 
How fiercely fought and well 
The Polish brave who fell 
When Kosciusco gave 
Herculean blows to save 
Their country from the grave 
The Tartar tyrant's might 
Had dug for truth and right ! 



40 ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 

Yet failed Sarmatia, then ; 

And her heroic men, 

Whose patriotic worth 

Had brightened all the earth, 

Were doomed to martyr's pains 

Or, graced with heavy chains, 

AVere named a felon band 

And sent to foreign strand. 

There they were given brand 

To speak a meaner rate 

Than marked the murderer's fate, 

Whose hands the blood had spilt 

Of parricidal guilt. 

Read not the story through, 
One page alone will do ! 
One page alone of dread, 
One page with terror red. 
One page of hot tears shed. 
One page of that despair. 
Which fades the eye and hair, 
Saps e'en the power to cry. 
Gives a hot thirst to die, 



ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 41 

Kills the smile on the face, 
Blots the last look of grace, 
Blots the last mental trace. 
Stills the hand from device, 
Chills the blood into ice, 
And the nerves into bone, 
And the heart into stone ! 



O what chieftain would dare 
In the lists with despair ! 
O dead and worse than dead 
The heart whence hope has fled ! 
And yet, though dead, how quick 
That heart at the tick 
Of the seconds of time 
And the pulsing of rhyme 
Of the song that keeps tune 
With the cadence of June ! 
Despairing and dead, 
Yet trembling with dread 
At the tenderest song 
That is wafted along 



42 ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 

By the zephyrs of morn 

Over clover and corn, 

Or when silver stars stream 

That so floats with their gleam 

That silence is heard 

O'er the clearest sweet w^ord 

That friendship can give 

To wake one to live ! 

There's never a heart 

That's alive to all art 

And is beating in chime 

With nature's sweet rhyme, 

But if conquered by fear 

Would shudder to hear 

Even music of waves 

Of the streamlet that laves 

The myrtle banks sweet 

Where the fairy ones meet, 

In elfin land grove, 

To warble of love. 

Aye, held by despair, 

No victim could bear 

Breath from elfin land, where 



ARRAIGN^IENT OF RUSSIA. 43 

But a breatli of the air 
Of the earth would displace 
The planets that trace 
Round the elfin land sun 
The courses they run. 

What then is the fate 
Of the victims of hate 
Of the despot who reigns 
O'er the Russian domains 
And his victims doth cast 
To the Borean blast 
Of the bleak northern plains, 
Or doometh to chains 
Of Saghalin, or wills 
That in -Caucasus hills 
They shall dig till they die, 
And dishonored shall lie 
In a far away grave 
Too mean for a slave ! 

Despair that anywhere 
Is worst of woes that are, 



44 ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 

How thrice 'tis very hell 
In a Siberian cell, 
Or in Siberian mines 
Where hope never shines, 
Where song is never heard. 
Where friendship's kind word 
Would seem but a dream, 
But a swamp-like gleam — 
A phosphorus ray, 
To hint of a day 
That never could come 
To a castaway's gloom ! 



Yet, patriots, sad till song 

Doth tantalize, ere long 

The skies shall make you strong 

Unto successful war 

Against the despot czar. 

And fates shall seize his scourge 

And time for him a dirge 

Of punishment as sore 

As that he had in store 



ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 45 

For patriotic hearts 

That long had known his arts. 

O Heaven, whose lurid star 
Maddens to might and war ! 
When thou shalt undertake 
The Russian yoke to break, 
Say, Heaven of justice, say, 
What blood can ever pay 
The wrong to Poland done 
By those whose ravage won 
By Vistula's fair tide, 
That, often crimson-dyed 
From noblest patriot slain, 
Goes moaning to the main ! 

Ye thrice ten thousand dead. 
Whose blood the Cossacks shed 
In homes of Praga fair, 
How eloquent your prayer 
Throughout the saddened years 
Of agony and tears — 



46 ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 

A plea to Heaven to aid 

A land in ruin laid, 

A plea repeated o'er 

With emphasis of gore 

Of many thousands more 

Where Warsaw's reddened plains, 

That Freedom's ichor stains, 

And Cracow's crimsoned sod 

Still wail their plaints to God ! 

Fair Wanda's mountain moans 

Responsive to the groans 

And Dnieper makes her cry, 

For Dniester to reply. 

And from the Don to San, 

Rebuking Russian ban, 

Blood red the waters gleam 

Of each Sarmatian stream ! 

Whichever way it track, 

To Baltic or the Black, 

Sad, sad each river flows, 

A requiem of woes. 

From Poland to the seas 

That chant her miseries ! 



ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 47 

O ye who died to give 
To Poland right to live — 
A century of grief, 
With none to give relief ! 
And worthy sons of sires 
Of Poland bound ! O fires 
Of hell, what flame can pay 
And burn the guilt away 
That clothes the Russian name 
With everlasting shame ! 



Stay, Angel of the Book 
Of Record, stay, and look ! 
For this is far from all 
That flames of that fierce thrall 
Upon the single page 
That tells the Russian rage 
To Poland done, whose whole 
Of tyrant dirt and dole 
Hath hue of Herod's crime. 
And smells of Nero's time ! 
Fair women sent to pine 



48 ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 

And delve in noisome mine 
Where gladness cannot shine, 
Or sent with felon's chain 
To walk the weary plain 
Where mercy hath no rate, 
Where hunger hath no sate 
But cup and crust of hate ! 
Or hath she darker fate, 
That is so w^orse than death 
It is not given breath ! 

Nor is this all; for there, 

Condemned to felon's fare, 

Do patriot children know 

Maturity of woe I 

O God ! where is the hell 

In which damned spirits dwell 

That is enough for this ! 

For blotting out the bliss 

From childhood's heart of joy 

That never knew alloy 

Of ill, nor thought to stray 

In sin's forbidden way ! 



ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 49 

To keep the code of heaven, 
The patriots have forgiven, 
In hopes that kindness win 
Who seventy times should sin. 
Yet seven times that have striven 
These foes of man and Heaven, 
And by ten thousand times 
Have multiplied their crimes — 
With shrewdest cunning wrought, 
With mighty armies fought. 
To quench the patriot fires 
That God himself inspires 
In hearts that turn, O stars. 
To you, through prison bars, 
And wail to Heaven the cries 
Of Poland's agonies ! 

Endured, the Tartars laugh 
And like the Chaldean quaff. 
At high imperial feast 
To their full wishes drest. 
The nectar of their pride 
That long hath Heaven defied — 



50 ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 

Potations proudly poured 
To mock the names adored 
By Poland and by man 
For leading Freedom's van ! 
Wine drunk in Tartar hate, 
From vessels desecrate 
That came from temples where, 
In their devotion rare, 
The loving and the free 
Their feasts of liberty 
In Polish custom held, 
Far back in days of Eld ! 

But Heaven impatient grows. 
And, noting long the woes 
Of Poland and of all 
Within the Tartar's thrall. 
Will surely send a hand 
To write where Russian band. 
In revel o'er their wine, 
Shall read and know the sign 
Grim glistening on the wall, 
That tyranny must fall ! 



ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 5 1 

Aye, patience may endure, 
But wrath deferred is sure. 
And soon some one shall rise 
To hear and heed the cries 
Of victims of the czars ! 
And then, O waiting stars, 
How will ye shout and sing 
And call the birds to wing 
In swiftest flight, to tell 
Wherever patriots dwell. 
Who 'twas in frozen hell 
Of far Siberian plains 
Broke oft" the bars and chains 
Of victims of the czars. 
And, witnessed by the stars, 
Declared the patriots free 
And worthy liberty. 
And Poland's flag unfurled 
To honor in the world ! 



VISION AND PROPHECY. 

/^N Ural hills it came, 

A tongue of prophet flame, 
A burning thither sent 
From out the firmament 
Of justice, love and truth, 
And everlasting youth. 
And thus the fervid voice: 
"O tyrant, have thy choice, 
To turn to righteousness 
And teach thy hands to bless — 
Repent the despot's crime, 
Worst tyranny of time, 
Or take the doom thai falls 
Thereon — the mighty walls 
That Power uprears thrown down, 
The dimmed and wrested crown 
Of monarchs in defeat. 
With conscience to repeat 
To all the winds that fleet — 
' The tvrant's fate is meet ! ' " 



VISION AND PROPHECY. 53 

Thus while the bright night heard 
Swift flew the warning word 
And sought by westward star 
The palace of the czar. 
There, round their festive board, 
His nobles and their lord 
Glowed o'er their ruddy wine, 
In toast of new design 
To make the exiles weep 
And keep the world asleep 
Anent the wrongs that steep 
The tyrant Tartar's name 
In infamy and shame. 

But stay, why trembles he ? 
What vision doth he see ? 
No ghost in festive hall ; 
No hand upon the wall. 
To make his pleasures pall. 
No fiend his eyes detect ; 
No peasant to suspect. 
Tried ministers attend, 
Full foot and horse defend 



54 VISION AND PROPHFXY. 

The throne and citadel 
Where czar and kindred dwell, 
And cordonned round the land 
Grim guarding legions stand ! 
Yet pales the czar with dread ! 
He deems assassins tread, 
With blade athirst and blast, 
To drink his blood, and cast 
In atoms to the sky 
The halls of tyranny ! 

The voice from Ural hills 

Flamed forth hath gone in thrills 

Of swiftest breezes blown 

Along the northern zone. 

And many leagues afar 

In palace of the czar 

With trembling terror fills, 

To consternation chills 

The ruler of the land. 

And not invention planned 

To keep supreme at home 

His reign, if foes should come, — 



VISION AND PROPHECY. 55 

And not ambitious schemes 
That give him pleasant dreams 
Of other lands to gain, 
Of widening domain 
To great increase of dower, 
To boundlessness of power — . 
Not one of these, nor all, 
Can break the chilling thrall. 
And drive the fiends away 
That on his spirit prey ! 



And evermore shall cling 

Those fiends, and tear and sting. 

And for new vigor drink 

The ichor, black as ink. 

Of veins of tyranny 

That fed on liberty 

Through many, many years, 

Drank river floods of tears 

And jeered a thousand sneers 

At patriotic sighs 

Drawn by a czar's emprise ! 



56 VISION AND PROPHECY. 

After the burning spoke 
And round the echoes woke 
Responsive to the doom 
The flame announced to come,- 
Soft blazed the voice of truth, 
In tones of tender ruth 
Of love's sweet firmament, 
A message eastward sent 
By one appearing there 
From out the upper air, 
Who seemed to high emprise 
Commissioned by the skies. 
He wore that loveliness 
That doth high worth express 
In angel or in men 
Of angel mien and ken. 

Away on zephyrs borne, 
He came at tinge of morn 
To bleak Siberian strand, 
The northern demonland. 
There imps abound in air 
Who give their constant care 



f 



VISION AND PROPHECY. 57 

That when the tyrants die 
Some sprite of ill shall fly 
To convoy them to hell, 
Reporting there how well 
They have performed the work 
The monarch of the murk 
Assigns, and thus how far 
They have obeyed the czar. 

From spirit of the sky 
The imps affrighted fly. 
And well escaped his might, 
They pause them in their flight 
And hiss in powerless ire 
Their breath of spiteful fire, 
That freezes on the air. 
And now they backward fare, 
To see if stranger sprite 
Shall think him to alight. 
And soon he turns to fly, 
That bright one of the sky, 
His plumage to begiime, 
Down through the jagged rime 



58 VISION AND PROPHECY. 

Of rock where guardsmen pace 
To keep the exile race. 
Deep where they delve in mines 
And sunshine never shines, 
He comes to drive the gloom 
That overhangs this tomb 
Of Russian liberty, 
This Bastile of the free ! 
And this the word of cheer 
The toilers, listening, hear: 
''Good patience, still, ye braves 
Condemned to fate of slaves ! 
Against Oppression's throne, 
The Mighty makes His own 
The cause of those w^ho, long 
In suffering, still are strong." 

Glad on his herald tongue 
The delvers hopeful hung. 
Yet scarce could angel's cheer 
Dispel an exile's fear. 



VISION AND PROPHECY. 59 

Forth then the voice of flame. 

And soon a lovelier came, 

An angel with this word: 

"The message ye have heard 

Was told to me in heaven 

Whence all good gifts are given. 

So strange 'twas thought 'twould seem, 

So fanciful the dream, 

Another one was sent 

Attesting the intent 

Of powers above to bless 

With buoyance in duress 

And exodus from chains 

To Freedom's fair domains." 



The angel ceased and drew 
A stylus forth of hue 
Of the cerulean blue 
And ruby stone and white, 
And straight began to write 
Upon the prison mine 
With deep cut lustrous sign. 



6o VISION AND PROPHECY. 

No words the delving said, 

But breathless watched and read. 

And forth the angel fled. 



Came then a third, to say, 
"Toilers, ye have seen to-day 
Two of the seven prized most 
Of the selectest host 
Of all the armies bright 
Bannered in realms of light. 
Aflame with brightest star, 
That host ten thousand are, 
With place of honor given 
The thousand best of heaven. 
They who the most have blessed. 
As heaven's accounts attest, 
The sorrowing ones of earth, 
And honored most true worth. 
And those a hundred best 
Have placed before the rest. 
The hundred giving seven 
Most pleasing unto Heaven 



VISION AND PROPHECY. 6l 

The highest, foremost place 
Of all the angel race. 

''And of this number, one 
Is Uriel of the sun; 
And Raphael gracious is 
And giv^en to ministries, 
And most sublimities 
Hath missioned been to see, 
And most of misery. 
The first your boon to tell 
Was flaming Uriel, 
And Raphael who came 
To witness Uriel's flame 
And cheer with face benign 
The delvers in this mine. 

" Led Israfil the throng 
In that first Christmas song 
That told the waiting earth 
Of a Redeemer's birth. 
And he and all the seven 
From out the weeping heaven 



62 VISION AND PROPHECY. 

Flown sad, in sympathy 
And wondering tears, to see 
The dread sublimity 
Of rugged Calvary, 
Stayed sentinels and kept 
The tomb where Jesus slept — 
The loveliest of the sky. 
Who gave Himself to die. 
And their rejoicing eyes 
Beheld the Saviour rise 
And saw the earliest ray 
That tinged an Easter day. 

"Not oft do mortals see 

In quick succession three 

Celestial ones, as ye 

This day have seen and heard 

In glad prophetic word. 

Yet men this truth may know. 

That for each want and woe 

Some angel waits above 

Commissioned by the Love 

Supreme, to fly and prove 



VISION AND PROPHECY. 6^ 

With blessings from the skies 

That He is kind and wise 

And doth permit the stress, 

To give Him chance to bless 

And those who suffer, place 

To struggle into grace 

Of goodness and the dower 

Of perfectness of power. 

Whoso behaveth right 

Whatever be his plight , 

Whoever thinketh bright, 

Important, happy thing 

To say, or paint, or sing. 

Hath influence from the sky, 

And voice to ask him try 

Unto the highest, best 

One may and should, thus blessed, 

To make both fine and strong 

The word, the tint, the song. 

Who heedeth first, hath more 

Of the celestial store 

That gives uplift from trite 

To new, from slough to height. 



64 VISION AND PROPHECY. 

From weakness unto might, 
From dryness, deadness, blight, 
To bud and leaf and bloom 
That hint of Junes to come. 
O gracious boundlessness 
Of Heaven's power to bless ! 

''Keep sweet, O patriots, ye 

In this hard slavery. 

And some day ye shall see 

The tyrant bend the knee 

To ask for leave to fly, 

By conscience scourged, to die 

Beneath this bitter sky ! 

Here, where the clank of chains 

Doth fright Siberian plains 

To barrenness and dearth 

Unknown elsewhere on earth — 

Here, where such blight has blown 

Forever from the zone 

Of doubt, that all the air 

Is dense with chill despair ! " 



VISION AND PROPHECY. 65 

Seen or invisible, 

As seemeth to them well, 

The spirits come to tell 

The words of wrath or love 

That emanate above. 

And though alert to sounds 

And sights that vex their rounds, 

The guardsmen of the mines. 

Sworn to the czar's designs, 

Saw not those whose emprise 

Was threatening from the skies, 

Though came they bright as stars 

To speak the doom of czars. 

But read the guards in mine 

The deeply-written sign, 

And sent a message far 

To citadel of czar. 

And he to frenzy tiew 

And worse each moment grew. 

Imperial mandate given, 

The royal guards had striven 

The writing to erase. 

But none could yet efface 



66 VISION AND PROPHECY. 

Indictment graven there 
By one of upper air. 
And livid in that mine 
Fierce glistened still each line : 

" For Foia?id's cup of gall 
The Russian throne must fall^ 
Unless the czar s repent 
Before the firmament 
And prove sincere ifitent 
To eying stars, that see 
What is sincerity 
Aiid will 710 fleeting mood 
Of tears for years of blood. 
They ask cont^Htion due 
And that, to honor true, 
The tyrants right the wrofig 
Their hate hath done so long, 
And do the people s choice. 
And make their hearts rejoice, 
And make the throne their voice 

The czar a chemist sent, 
AVho with fierce caustics went. 



VISION AND PROPHECY. 67 

To eat the message out 
That so had put to rout 
The pleasure of the czar, 
And toiled from dawn to star 
With fiery rust and bar. 

Homeward a horseman flew, 
And this the message true : 
" No science can begin. 
Nor skilJ, the race to win — 
The words are burning in ! " 
Some straying peasant heard 
The courier's fateful word 
Reported to the lord 
Chief courtier of the king. 
And all the people sing. 
And children join the din, 
" The 7U07'ds aj^e burning in !'' 

x\gain the man with bar 
And blast to please the czar, 
And tear the message out. 
Of which the people shout. 



68 VISION AND PROPHECY. 

And with his mission o'er, 
Reports he as before : 
"A span, a foot, a rod — 
Swift science doth but plod. 
The words do inward fly 
As missioned from llie sky ! " 

In rage the monarch flew. 
The alchemist he slew, 
And sent another still. 
With threat to chain and kill 
Did he not burn or tear 
That message of despair. 
And with him fared a guard 
That no one should retard. 
Nor scientist should flee 
If unsuccessful he. 
Returned, he trembling said, 
As forth the guardsmen led 
Him, strongly held and bound, 
To slay if faithless found : 
"A foot, an ell, a rod — 
The message writ of God 



VISION AND PROPHECY. 69 

About a nation's sin 
Is further burning in ! " 

The guardsmen aim to fire ! 
The monarch cries, " Retire 
With him in heavy chains 
To wildest northern plains ! 
The recreant's mocking breath 
Must not the ease of death ! " 

Fruitless the despot's plan 

Of banishing the man. 

Borne by the ready airs, 

That message onward fares 

Through scenes of joy and dearth 

Around the peopled earth ! 

Hills tell it unto fen, 

The wilds to homes of men, 

The mountain to the moor, 

The robin at the door 

Of cottage and of hall — 

That broken soon the thrall 

Of Russian slaves will be. 



70 VISION AND PROPHECY. 

And joy of Liberty ! 

And chant the brooks and birds, 

'' The angel-written words 

About a nation's sin 

Are ever burning in ! " 

And other birds are singing 

In every morn of winging, 

In every noon of flying 

For food forbirdlings crying, 

And eve of homeward hieing 

To nest, and rest, and love, 

A message from above 

Befitting lark or dove 

To sing in all the earth ; 

''Man's greatest wealth, his worth. 

His unearned plenty, dearth ; 

His best of liberty, 

Deserving to be free." 

Still other birds that fly 

And sing, they know not wh}", 

Thus cheer, inspire and warn 



VISION AND PROPHECY. 

At eve and happy morn : 

" Whatever first success, 

What flatterers address, 

How fondly love caress, 

How praiseth selfishness 

That hopes returns to bless, 

Whatever is the stress 

Of noyance that doth press, 

War waged for wrong is wrong, 

And weak and never strong. 

And weak is war for might ; 

But ever finds true knight 

All powerful war for right; 

For God is in the fight ! 

Though right should lose the fray, 

And victory delay. 

Yet surely comes the day 

Of victory to stay. 

And show that right hath might, 

For God is in the fight ! 



A WARNING TO COLUMBIA. 

T3UT briefly where it sung 

The sentient glowing hung. 
Then over seas it came, 
The fearless warning flame, 
And o'er Potomac's tide 
In indignation cried, 
As, eying halls of state, 
Mid-air the burnino: sate. 
Self-poised in conscious truth 
And sense of lasting youth : 
" For shame, Columbia, shame ! 
Bedimming thy bright name 
By leaguing with the power 
That claims by heavenly dower 
Each individual soul 
Of lands in his control, 
With right to dominate, 
Unto severest fate 
Those bending not the knee 
At nod of tyranny ! 



A WARNING TO COLUMBIA. 73 

" Why dost thou promise, why, 
That when to thee shall fly 
Those fortunate to break 
Their bondage and to take 
Across the seas their w^ay, 
West guided by the ray 
Of freedom, to thy land, 
They shall be held for hand 
Of czar, whose wrath they flee 
To fly in hope to thee ? 
These sent to despot back, 
To dungeon and to rack. 
For holding but the thought 
That ill the tyrant wrought 
In Russian robber rout 
That blotted nations out! 
In league, Columbia, why, 
With Russian tyranny? " 

In silence, then, the flame, 
To -hear if answer came 
From out Columbian hall. 
And, saying " Deaf to all 



74 "O PATRIOTS, PURE AND STRONG. 

And to thy past untrue," 
The lustre, sighing, flew 
To welcome of the blue. 
That bent, sad questioning, 
And bade the birds to sing. 
And brooks. — "Columbia, why 
In league with tyranny?" 



O PATRIOTS, PURE AND STRONG. 

r\ PATRIOTS, pure and strong. 

And waiting now so long 
Surcease of this hard fate, 
Wait on, for God doth wait ! 
For Christ, when in the fate 
O'er which all nature wept 
And Heaven sad vigils kept. 
His slayers could forgive, 
And died that they might live. 



■' O PATRIOTS, PURE AND STRONG.' 75 

He shed in death the tears 
That permeate the years 
And ever plead with man 
The beauty of the plan 
Of giving bread for blows, 
For thorn the thornless rose 
Of love that sweeter grows 
Through trials oft and sore — 
That, wounded o'er and o'er, 
Doth from its fragrant store 
The balm of good disburse. 
And blessing breathe for curse. 

God's greatest name is Love; 
His carrier bird, the dove. 
Yet His the eagle is, 
And all the majesties 
Of all the life of earth. 
Since far creation's birth ! 
He gave the tiger power. 
Leviathan his dower. 
To lash the seas to rage 
And mighty ships engage. 



76 "O PATRIOTS, PURE AND STRONG/ 

He taught the earth to quake, 

And made the mountains shake. 

'Twas He created light 

And piled the Alpine height. 

He set the rhythmic spheres 

To cadence of the years 

Of the eternity 

He gave the right to be ! 

His Christ of Olivet 

And Galilee used yet 

A scourge ; His Moses saw 

The lightnings of the law 

From Sinai blaze, to tell 

That with Jehovah dwell 

All powers, and it is well 

With those alone who fear 

Him, and in truth sincere, 

Hold all His statutes dear, 

Who live for righteousness. 

And never to oppress. 

And He, if stubborn prove 

The czars to pleas of love, 

Will thunder in His wrath 



"O PATRIOTS, PURE AND STRONG." 77 

And plow with war a path 
Through tyranny's domains 
And break the exile's chains, 
And lead each patriot band 
To home and native land. 

Fail not, protesting rhyme 
Against the Russian crime, 
Fail not his worth to sing, 
Who, once in Russia king, 
Had righted much of wrong. 
Had not the furious throng 
Smote Alexander down 
And set the Russian crown 
Against the Polish cause 
Of Liberty's good laws. 
But Polish patriots see 
A crime in anarchy. 
No vengeance on their foes 
Would they ; but thornless rose 
And white, and every flower 
Of Peace for those whose power 
Hath been so long the ban 



78 '' O PATRIOTS, PURE AND STRONG.' 

Of Russia and of man ! 

Unselfish in their grief, 

These patriots seek relief 

For all who feel 

The tyrant's iron heel. 

To people of the realm 

They seek to give the helm 

Of Russian power, 

As rightful dower. 

Nor charge they the rod 

Of tyranny to God. 

And spurn they the extremes 

Of the ill-visioned dreams 

Of those anarchic fools 

Whom wild unwisdom rules. 

They of that base alloy 

Which nerves men to destroy, — 

Gives them the greed to kill 

And scent for blood to spill. 



A PILGRIMAGE OF CZARS. 

'VXTILL tyrants turn, who make 

Their chief delight to break 
The patriotic heart, 
And name their crime an art ! 
Yet grant imagination scope. 
And patience chance to hope 
That czars be won to sense 
Of need of penitence. 
Or scourged until they see 
How wrong the cruelty 
That gives to Poland tears, 
And damns a thousand years ! 

Should miracle be done 
The greatest under sun. 
The visioned stars have seen. 
And czars repentance mean — 
Go, czars, by conscience sent. 
Go honored to repent. 
Go with your burden bent, 



8o A PILGRIMAGE OF CZARS. 

Go any way ye must, 
Go, if through thorns and dust 
Go, if with heavy chains 
Like exiles o'er the plains ! 
Go, grateful that you may ; 
Go seek fit place to pray, 
Go where the zephyrs say 
That sigh from heaven's way ! 
Go, foes of liberty. 
And fall on suppliant knee 
Where dust of Kracut is 
'Mid Cracow's mysteries, 
The first of Polish kings 
The muse of History sings. 
The Slavic chief of time 
Ere czars had cursed his clime. 
There, pleading not the claim 
Of royalty or fame. 
But only His good name 
Who gave the one relief 
That owned himself a thief — 
There tell the skies your sin, 
Aware as ve begin 



BY Kosciusko's dust. 8i 

That Christ, the ever kind, 
With justice mild, consigned 
To millstone and the sea 
The unwept tyranny 
Of Pharisees of old, 
To whom ye likeness hold. 
Kneel then in Cracow, where 
The soul of Wanda fair 
Doth frequent still the air 
Above the hill that claims 
Sweetest of Polish names. 
And ask you there of Heaven 
If czars can be forgiven ! 



BY KOSCIUSKO'S DUST. 

'T^HEN, with this pleading done, 

If beams benignant sun, 
Or if for you there shine 
A ray of star benign; 
Then seek another grave, 



82 BY Kosciusko's dust. 

His place whom Heaven gave 

To show to czars and earth 

A Polish patriot's worth, 

And sent to aid, in youth, 

Columbia's cause of truth. 

By Kosciusko's rest 

Your prayers addressed 

The Heaven of Liberty, 

Ye may forgiven be 

Of Heaven and of the free. 

There hear from far the cry 

Of those who hope, or try 

To hope, before they die 

To see once more the home 

From whence dear memories come. 

O ! memories that burn 

And into torments turn ! 

And still the patriots yearn 

For once to grasp the hand 

Of kindred in the land 

Of Kosciusko's birth, 

The dearest land of earth ! 



BY KOSCIUSKO S DUST, 

O, cruel tyranny ! 

That freemen may not see 

For once the boyhood farm, 

Sweet with the pet brook's charm ; 

For once the childhood cot, 

For once the play-place grot, 

For once the daisied mead, 

For once two paths to lead, 

As once, to trysting place 

Of bravery and of grace ! 

For once the grassy mound 

That love's fair roses crowned ! 

There Linka's ashes lie. 

Who had the choice to die 

Or tell the tyrant's spy. 

When by His Highness bid, 

Of patriot Pavel hid ! 

And there's the outlook hill, 

And there the near-by rill. 

And there the other stream, 

Whose unforgotten gleam 

Inspired the boyhood dream 

Of busv, stirrine life. 



84 BY Kosciusko's dust. 

Of joy in hardest strife, 
Of earning high success, 
Of coming home to bless. 
With nobly won largess. 
The village where in joy 
Erstwhile dwelt the boy ! 

Instead, condemned to pine 
Imprisoned in a mine, 
For that high quality 
That fits men to be free. 

Where Kosciusko lies. 
Best of the sanctities 
Of the Sarmatian land, 
There, tyrants, stand, 
There, tyrants, kneel. 
And well the honor feel ! 
There, ye who give a slave 
The right to choose his grave. 
The felon, who atones. 
With hempen halter, groans 
He caused, the right to say 



BY Kosciusko's dust. 85 

Where ye his bones shall lay- 
There, by Kosciusko's dust, 
Be honest, once, and just ! 
There talk repentant czars, 
With conscience and the stars ! 
Tell stars and conscience why 
In vain do freemen cry 
To you for boon of serf, 
For one green stretch of turf, 
Where, from foreign strand 
Sent back to native land — . 
Where, if not given breath 
At home, they may at death 
Be sent to final rest. 
To slumber unoppressed ! 

Cannot endure the stars ? 
Why, there's a place, ye czars, 
Where stars do never shine, 
And whence no royal line 
Or peasant cometh back 
By straight or devious track — 
But onward still m_ust fare 



86 i;v Kosciusko's dust. 

Whoever goeth there ! 
And there's another, too, 
Where stars are never due, 
But lurid lightnings glare. 
And demons rule the air ; 
And hither none shall fare 
That ever enter there ! 
And there's another still 
Of flowery plain and hill 
Of Sion, blest abode 
Of angels and of God ! 
And of the saints who rise 
From earth's hard agonies 
To freedom of the skies ! 

There song of streams that flow 
Attuned to airs that blow 
With spicy odors blessed, 
The very rhythm of rest, 
To souls that need repose. 
And stimulus to those 
Who, calmed and strong, aspire 
Unto tumultuous lyre. 



WARNINGS FROM ELDER DAYS. 87 

And theirs a theme to fill 
The heavens with joy, until 
Enraptured o'er the song, 
The very groves prolong 
The joy and join to sing, 
With birds of every wing. 
But, untransformed by grace 
To fitness for the place, 
In heaven no tyrants live ; 
For heavenly blisses give 
Such influence that 'twere hell 
For tyrants there to dwell. 



WARNINGS FROM ELDER DAYS. 

'T^HINK not, unthinking czars, 

To contradict the stars ! 
For they have lived to see 
Too much of history 
To deign to a reply 
When even Russians lie ! 



WARNINGS FROM ELDER DAYS. 

Boast not your hosts in arms, 
That give the world alarms. 
For steel-clad giants are 
But pigmies to a star. 
Stars laugh at all your power 
And point to Shinar's tower, 
That was, and Babylon 
That boasted to the sun 
Of her Chaldean might, 
And held the world in fright. 
And perished in a night ! 
And but her ruins tell 
Of Babylon that fell ! 

And point the stars, to king 
Of whom but furies sing, 
The Herod throned of yore, 
But cursed forevermore 
In street and cloister lore. 

From scanning these 

Look back to Rameses, 

Whom and whose like eave tears 



WARNINGS FROM ELDER DAYS. 89 

For twice two hundred years 

To chosen sons of God. 

And these condemned to plod, 

Scourged by oppression's rod 

That grew by gore, 

These through their bondage sore 

Upon God's promise fed, 

Till, brave enough, they fled, 

By visioned shepherd led. 

And now the sea before 
Withholds from freedom's shore, 
And prisoning mountains stand 
To hold for Pharaoh's hand ! 
But look ! the flood divides. 
Heaven holds apart the tides ! 
The fugitives pass through ! 
Menephtah's hosts pursue ; 
But fierce returning waves 
Whelm in their watery graves 
Ruler, horsemen, all — 
A wreck that hints the fall 
Of the Egyptian throne, 



90 WARNINGS FROM ELDER DAYS. 

O'er which in warning moan 
The ages sweep, to say 
That tyrants pass away ! 

Man's title to be free 
Is writ in history, 
And finds, to prove it, given 
The very truth of Heaven. 
And, sweet as favoring word 
By wooing Honor heard. 
The song of brook and bird 
And Zephyr's minstrelsy 
Are music of the free. 
So everything decries 
The despot's tyrannies. 
In waking life of spring. 
When glad the robins sing ; 
In the persuasive breath 
Of June from flowery heath ; 
In airs that sweeten shade 
Of pleasant wooded glade 
And move the fairy ferns 
To dance bv merrv burns ; 



WARNINGS FROM ELDER DAYS. 

In Storms around the peaks 
Where fierce the thunder speaks ; 
In chill November's gale 
That sweeps the frosted vale ; 
In Ocean's sullen roar 
On Winter's icy shore — 
In all her ministries, 
The voice of nature is 
Rebuke of tyrannies. 

In tender tones and mild, 
As plaintive voice of child, 
In clarion peal, and strong 
As burst of lyric song; 
Commanding, deep and slow 
As centuries that flow 
Through history 
Toward eternity — 
The olden warning word 
Repeated, now is heard 
In all the upward trend 
To Consummation's end ; 
The word in every wind, 



92 WARNINGS FROM ELDER DAYS. 

The word in every mind, 
But yours, audacious czars, 
Who contradict the stars — 
'^ Let ye my people go ! 
Let ye the exiles go ! " 



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